Q&A With Former Maryland Lacrosse Player Will Yeatman

Former Notre Dame and Maryland attackman Will Yeatman has a dream: to be a tight end in the NFL. With his collegiate football career wrapped up and no plans to petition the NCAA for another year of eligibility so he can play lacrosse this spring, Yeatman is spending some time in Florida before heading home to California at the end of the month to get intensely focused on training for a shot to be invited to the NFL Combine in February.

Yeatman took time this week to talk to IL about the football season, his lacrosse career at Notre Dame and Maryland and his dream to play in the NFL.

The football season just wrapped up with your 51-20 Military Bowl win over East Carolina. How was football season?

The football season was an unbelievable experience for me. Being on a team of 115 guys who become your friends is obviously a blessing. That was obviously a special thing both with the coaching staff and the players. We finished the season at 9-4 which was a pretty good mark considering where the team was two years ago. It's tough to see Coach Friedgen leave the way he did, but at the same time it was nice to send him out with great bowl win.

What was the highlight of the season for you?

Probably the blackout game. Even though we lost, there was a blackout in College Park. It was the Wounded Warrior game and we wore black helmets. I scored my first touchdown of the season and it was my first major prime time game and it was on ABC, which was cool.

What do you think of Randy Edsall as the next football coach at Maryland?

It's exciting. It's good that there will be a coach that runs a pro style offense. People were excited about the possibility of Mike Leach coming and as a tight end, I just kept thinking about how Leach doesn't use tight ends in his offense. I'm really excited about Randy. The way he interacts with players on the sideline is definitely a positive thing. It looks like guys really respect him and enjoy his company. Obviously, he has taken UConn from the bottom to the top and hopefully he can take Maryland to the top of the ACC and the nation.

You decided not to play lacrosse this spring. When did you make this decision and what went into it?

I probably came to the decision about half way through the football season. I was really enjoying myself on the football field. I've wanted to play in the NFL my entire life and it didn't seem realistic that I could make that happen if I played lacrosse. I would've had to try to get a year of eligibility back (played in a scrimmage in the fall of 2007 that negated a whole year of eligibility). The thing that made the decision easiest was that I've been in college for a long time and I've been a college athlete long enough. I had to move on and move to the next step of my life and hopefully that's the NFL.

What's next for you in terms of training and getting ready for the NFL Combine?

I'm headed back to College Park for our football banquet and then headed to Tempe, AZ for the Eastham Energy All-Star Game, which will be a good experience and an opportunity to show what I can do. After that I head back to San Diego. My agent has me set up to work with a trainer. It's really close to my house there so I'm going to live at home for the first time since before college. Playing two sports in college takes a bit of a toll and I definitely have not been able to visit home as much as I would have liked so being there for a while will be nice.

You're ranked the No. 30 tight end entering the draft but there's also been talk that you could be used as a tackle. Have you received any feedback on your game?

Yeah, and we'll see what happens with that. I could be used as a tackle and I'd be all for that. I think I could be good at that. I have a big frame. But I played tight end in college and I have aspirations to be a tight end. I don't want to train to be an offensive tackle if I've never done it. If that's what they want me to do, that's great and hopefully I can help them out. I think I could be a good tight end in the NFL.

My agent has been talking to different teams and I'm really excited about it. I think people are excited about my potential. The thing for me is that I can't have expectations of wanting to be a second round draft pick because I didn't perform at that level this season. I was injured at the beginning and I wore a cast for the first half of the season and I couldn't really do much. People are still figuring out who I am and what I can do. Agents started calling me when I really started performing at the end of the season. That being said, I think I can train my butt off and if I can get invited to the combine, I'll be ecstatic.

When you look back on your lacrosse career at Maryland, what are some things that stand out?

First and foremost, the coaches and players I've been around, not just at Maryland but Notre Dame too. Coach Corrigan and Coach Byrne and Coach Fisher were great people to be around to acclimate me to the Division I level. There are so many guys at Notre Dame who are wonderful people who I'll be friends with for the rest of my life. The same goes for Coach Cottle and Coach Slafkosky and Coach Moran.

I think one of the highlights for me was my first Division I game. We played Loyola in South Bend. I had a goal and two assists and there were a lot of people there and I just thought it was so cool. It's tough to say a highlight is a loss but the seven overtime game against Virginia was another one. It was utterly exhausting.

Playing Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament was memorable. I wasn't able to talk to the media going into the game and I remember I did not want to play against Notre Dame. People don't understand that. They thought I wanted to get revenge but that wasn't the case at all. It was really weird playing against a team I knew just as well as the team I was playing for. A really unique situation.

Overall though just the experience I've had playing and meeting people in the lacrosse community is something I'll always cherish. I will always be a lacrosse player.

You alluded to it before with football, but obviously you're a big strong player. How did you utilize that in lacrosse and do you think it's something you could have taken better advantage of?

I definitely think I could have taken better advantage of it and that's something I often got criticized for. But people don't realize that if I put my head down to just go to goal, there would be a double team coming. So while it's something I could have done, I don't completely think it's something I could have taken advantage of more because I think I did a good job creating for my teammates. I could drive and set up a play and people don't necessarily see that on a stat sheet.

I could have done it a little more but overall I am so pleased with my collegiate lacrosse career. Sure if I'd gone to the semifinals or the national championship game it might have been more memorable. Did I get a DUI at Notre Dame? Yeah. Did I have an underage ticket? Yeah. But people learn from their mistakes and I learned from that. It was all a growing experience and I'm thankful for all of it. God has a plan for everyone. I'm so thankful I spent those two and a half years there (ND). I learned so many different things.

What are your thoughts on Coach Tillman and the future of Maryland lacrosse?

I'm excited for Tillman. I hope they win a national championship this year. I hope they can because it's long overdue. We need that and we want it and I think Tillman can bring it. It was sad to see Coach Cottle leave the way he had to because he's such a good guy and I had a good relationship with him. Tillman is good though and is perfect for Maryland to get the job done.

Do you have plans to check out any Terp games this season?

I'm coming back March 8 so hopefully I get to check out whoever they're playing that weekend.

You mentioned you'd always wanted to play in the NFL. Any particular team you've dreamed of playing for?

The Chargers. Absolutely the Chargers. They're the team that I grew up loving. As far as playing goes, I'd love any opportunity to play for any NFL team. Playing close to home is also a lot of pressure. Playing for any team would be a dream come true.